Invitation for 2014 Presidential Theme: Vulnerable Times

UPDATED 22 February 2013

Marianne Hirsch, MLA president in 2013, has now issued an invitation for session proposals on the presidential theme of the 2014 convention: Vulnerable Times. Vulnerable Times addresses the vulnerability of life, the planet, and our disciplines, as well as the acts of imagination and forms of resistance that promote social change—in our time and throughout history. Please consider this theme an invitation to think about how the arts and the humanities (and the textual, historical, theoretical, and activist work that we do in the framework of the MLA) can contribute to social, political, and scientific analyses of the vulnerabilities we share collectively and those that are socially imposed on particular individuals and groups. Members are encouraged to submit forum proposals, roundtables, division and discussion group programs, and special sessions that engage with this theme. Session proposal forms for the 2014 convention will be available online by early March.